Criminal Justice Technology Diploma

Offered at the Following Campuses

Program Overview

The Criminal Justice Technology diploma program is a sequence of courses that prepares students for Criminal Justice professions. Learning opportunities develop academic, occupational, and professional knowledge and skills required for job acquisition, retention, and advancement. The program emphasizes a combination of Criminal Justice theory and practical application necessary for successful employment. Program graduates receive a Criminal Justice Technology diploma. Graduates who are current practitioners will benefit through enhancement of career potential. Entry-level persons will be prepared to pursue diverse opportunities in the corrections, security, investigative, and police administration fields. Completion of the Criminal Justice Technology diploma does not ensure certification of officer status in Georgia. Students must seek certification from the Peace Officer Standards and Training (P.O.S.T) Council.

The standard curriculum for the Criminal Justice Technology diploma program is designed for the semester system. Students are accepted into the program every semester. The program generally takes 5 semesters to complete. To graduate, students must earn a minimum of 50 credit hours.

Course Overview

(Prerequisite: None) This course is designed to provide tools to assist students to acquire skills necessary to achieve academic and professional success in their chosen occupational/technical program of study. Topics include: Getting off to a Good Start, Learning and Personality Styles, Time and Money Management, Study and Test Taking Skills, Stress Management and Wellness, Communication Skills, and Career Exploration.

(Prerequisite: Provisional admission)
Presents basic concepts within the field of psychology and their application to everyday human behavior, thinking and emotion. Emphasis is placed on students understanding basic psychological principles and their application within the context of family, work, and social interactions. Topics include an overview of psychology as a science, the nervous and sensory systems, learning and memory, motivation and emotion, intelligence, lifespan development, personality, psychological disorders and their treatment, stress and health, and social relations.

(Prerequisite: Provisional admission)
Introduces the development and organization of the criminal justice system in the United States. Topics include: the American Criminal Justice system; constitutional limitations; organization of enforcement, adjudication, and corrections; and career opportunities and requirements.

(Prerequisite: Program admission)
Provides an analysis of all phases of the American correctional system and practices, including its history, procedures, and objectives. Topics include: history and evolution of correctional facilities; legal and administrative problems; institutional facilities and procedures; probation, parole, and prerelease programs; community involvement; alternative sentencing; rehabilitation; and staffing.

(Prerequisite: Program admission)
This course examines the principles of organization, administration, and the duties of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. Topics include: history and philosophy of law enforcement; evaluation of administrative practices, problems in American law enforcement agencies, emerging concepts, professionalism, and community crime prevention programs.

(Prerequisite: Program Admission)
This course introduces criminal law in the United States, but emphasizes the current specific status of Georgia criminal law. The course will focus on the most current statutory contents of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (O.C.G.A.) with primary emphasis on the criminal and traffic codes. Topics include: historic development of criminal law in the United States; statutory law, Georgia Code (O.C.G.A.) Title 16 - Crimes and Offences; statutory law, Georgia Code (O.C.G.A.) Title 40 - Motor Vehicle and Traffic Offenses; and Supreme Court rulings that apply to criminal law.

(Prerequisite: Program admission)
This course provides an exploration of ethics and cultural perspective in criminal justice. In presenting ethics, both the individual perspective and the organizational standpoint will be examined. Four areas of ethical decision making opportunities are studied including: law enforcement ethics; correctional ethics; legal professional ethics; and policymaking ethics. The presentation of cultural perspectives is designed to aid law enforcement officers to better understand and communicate with members of other cultures with whom they come in contact in the line of duty. Topics include: defining and applying terms related to intercultural attitudes, role-play activities related to intercultural understanding, developing interpersonal/intercultural communication competence, and development of personal intercultural growth plan.

(Prerequisite: Program Admission)
This course emphasizes those provisions of the Bill of Rights which pertain to criminal justice. Topics include: characteristics and powers of the three branches of government; principles of governing the operation of the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment.

(Prerequisite: Program admission)
Introduces the procedural law of the criminal justice system which governs the series of proceedings through which government enforces substantive criminal law. The course offers an emphasis on the laws of arrest and search and seizure; the rules of evidence, right to counsel, and the rights and duties of both citizens and officers. The course covers in depth appropriate case law and court rulings that dictate criminal procedure of the state and federal level.

(Prerequisite: Program admission)
Analyzes the nature, extent, and causes of juvenile delinquency, and examines processes in the field of juvenile justice. Topics include: survey of juvenile law, comparative analysis of adult and juvenile justice systems, and prevention and treatment of juvenile delinquency.

(Prerequisite: Program admission)
Provides experiences necessary for further professional development and exposure to related agencies in the criminal justice field. The student will pursue a professional research project supervised by the instructor. Topics include: criminal justice theory application.

(Prerequisite: Program admission)
Provides experiences necessary for further professional development and exposure to related agencies in the criminal justice field. The student will pursue an externship in a related agency supervised by the instructor. Topics include: criminal justice theory application.

Program Costs

The United States Department of Education requires colleges to disclose a variety of information about Title IV diploma and certificate programs that “prepare students for gainful employment in a recognized occupation.” While this information is calculated the same for all colleges with Title IV eligible diploma and certificate programs, and is accurate, it can be misleading for a variety of reasons. The rates do not represent the success rates of the entire population at Southeastern Technical College (STC), nor do they account for student outcomes occurring after the tracking period.

The Gainful Employment graduation rate is calculated on a very small percentage of the total STC population (typically less than 15%). It consists only of students who entered STC as a first-time, full-time student a specific Fall term and was tracked as part of that cohort. If a program has less than 10 graduates in this cohort, they are not listed in the Gainful Employment regulations to protect the privacy of those students. Similarly, the job placement information does not calculate the full employment of STC graduates. It only calculates those students in this cohort, in these Title IV eligible programs.